Orange Flower

Summary: It just so happened that Fate had to pull the strings on one Sawada, Tsunayoshi, letting his life take a chaotic turn. A Checkered man could only signify a tsunami that'll wash over Tsuna's life.

Chapter 1

I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

He looked down at the object in his hands, twirling it in his fingers, occasionally rubbing his thumb over the smooth surface. He let out a chuckle, running his free hand through his unruly hair. "It seems unrealistic to how I had gotten this."

The day he had received the object in his hand was vivid, as if it were only yesterday. The only difference with that was that he wasn't throwing it out and spitting out his milk the next morning to find it on the dining table, pristine, not even a scratch. He hummed thinking back to those days. "A world record could come out of the many failed attempts to get rid of this thing…"

For a moment he grew quiet, his smile dimming until it completely turned into a scowl on his rather young face. "Really, maybe accepting the jobs were a bad idea, well I can't complain now. What's done is done…" He let out a snort. "Great, a direct quote from Shakespeare, I am definitely losing it now."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out a sigh. It was hard for him to just hide his tracks off in the beginning, then he had to hide even further when he made human contact after that, and then he was put with the burden of some Mafia shit. He let out another sigh, he had better stop with the sighing before he got old with white hair. "I can't believe I even let myself get into such things… if I remember correctly, this hacking business is what got me into this mess in the first place."

He mused at the hacking business he had. He only referred to it as such, since there was a computer involved, when in reality he made pranks with who he was designated to do for. Jobs and whatnot could only be accessed on his orange laptop, heavily guarded with various protection and self-programmed defenses. He could say that his laptop was his masterpiece with all his tinkering here and there. Being proud was one of the many words to describe his feelings for his creation. Not a single person could access his laptop without him, adding more to his ego. On the other hand, his secrets were all guarded, and not a trace to lead the targets to him.

It was all perfect.

Lowering his head, resting his forehead on his knees, he hugged his legs; clutching the object in his hand. A grim smile now on his face. There was also a time where he blamed it on a sweet kind woman, but then moved onto a checkered man, only to growl in retreat as he was threatened with the loss of his life. The trails after that were hard to pass, even going as far as counting to ten to calm himself, he ended up snapping and threatening the others to cut off their rampages before he got drastic and went mad. He sometimes wondered, how he hadn't gone insane just yet, maybe it was due to his bloodline, or maybe it was his mother's saintly qualities, who knew.

The others, were the rest of the group holding with them the same object, if not for their different colors. He remembered distantly how he mused the connection to the rainbow. Shaking his head, he stifled a sigh, glancing at the object that he still held onto. They were forced to stay with each other for three days before being allowed to head off to wherever they desired, or so the checkered man had said. Such a time they had, and he nearly had gotten everyone's personality together, but three days were up and when he had woken up, everyone had left. He supposed that was when the habit of sighing started, he wasn't sure.

Laying down on the grass, one hand behind his head while the other held the object to his chest, he let the wind ruffle his gravity defying hair as he closed his eyes. Thinking back to how it all started, at the age of six, the year that his life changed. For the better or for the worse, he didn't know.

The small, innocent boy known as Sawada Tsunayoshi, at the mere age of six was roughly awakened with the cruel reality. It happened during a harmless vacation that his father, who rarely visited, sent them to his homeland; Italy. His mother was ecstatic with the news that she would be on a trip to Italy, and be with her husband. A housewife's dream come true. Tsunayoshi, better known as Tsuna, was equally happy and ecstatic like the child he was. He spent every waking moment with his parents, on a silly whim of making happy memories, as he put it.

Unlike the nickname he had received in Elementary of Dame-Tsuna, the small brunette was a well-coordinated boy who was as energetic as any other kid his age. Sure he had times when he was quite slow, but that was considered normal in a child's growth phase. His antics, others referred to them as this, were just picked out more often than the others'.

It was in the last week of their three week stay when the incident happened. Tsuna was playing out in a park near the hotel that his father placed them in, having the time of his life, while his mother sat there contented on watching him as she sat on one of the many park benches that were placed there. His father apologized beforehand, saying that he needed to take care of some things before promising to meet them at the said park. He was sliding down the slide when he spotted a couple of men headed for the park. Nothing seemed unusual about them, just plain old business men who probably came out in the open for fresh air to interrogate each other with their business-y stuff. He shrugged, later he would pine about how he completely ignored a nagging feeling inside him causing such a downfall, and went to go climb the playground again to slide down again. Giggling he set off on his new task, only to freeze at the overshadowing figures that came up behind him.

Turning, like the frightened child he was, he looked up to see the same men, who were heading to the park, before him. His eyes grew wide, immediately trusting his instinct to run off to his mother to escape. However before he could so much as turn, he was instantly picked up by one of the men, causing him to scream in panic. He distantly heard his mother coming over, but as fast as he was taken, he was also drifting further from her. Her screams of help seemed to be ineffective, as no one seemed to be coming towards her. The men turned and he could no longer see his mother, nor the park, which caused him another wave of grief. Struggling from their grip and wailing his head off, had no effect on the men whatsoever, but he didn't give up. He continued to struggle and every so often, scream in their ears, relishing their wincing and struggle to keep him in check. Both men stopped in order to converse, obviously in a language that he did not know of. He was from Japan, not Italy. "I can't hold onto him anymore, you carry him!"

"Fine, but you will be the one holding him again anyway," The second man grumbled, taking the transferred child. Something, in the back of his head, told him to start struggling like wild when he was passed over. He didn't care on how tired his body was, he wanted to go back to his mother, and stay awake to make happy memories with both his parents, laughing and telling him to go to bed when his eyes started to droop, with his already exerted body he began another round of struggling and screaming. This time he felt himself drop onto the ground, though he didn't waste a single second on kissing the ground for eternal thanks, immediately getting up and running off in the direction they had come from. "He's getting away! We got to stop him!"

"It's fine if we just shoot him, right? Besides, a bullet wound is easier to heal than a dead body." The first man drew out a gun and began shooting. Sensing the shots, and making random guesses on where they would come from, he ran even faster hoping to outrun the bullet trajectory. The only coherent thought that seemingly went through his head at the time was that he would be dead if he stopped now for a break. Distracted with a mere few seconds of the thought, he toppled over, realizing the pain that blossomed in his leg. Which one it was, he couldn't tell at the time, adrenaline kicked in and he got up and ran even faster, as much as his short legs could carry him. Not caring for the searing pain in his injured leg. The men behind him cursed in their mother language and started running after him. "Shit! Who knew the kid could run like a hound!"

"The son of the Young Lion of the Vongola is no joke, I'm beginning to wonder if genetics were something that strong in a mere toddler." The second man stated, more calm than his companion.

The said companion snorted. "Save it, we don't want to lose the kid here! Boss would be furious that we let a prized pawn run."

Taking a sharp turn, he nearly jumped for joy, the playground was at a distance. A new burst of energy entered in his small body, making him run faster much to the shock of his captors. He was nearly there, enough to be able to distinguish many black suited figures searching the park's premises, and pushed even further to break out into the clearing. Relief washing over his figure, a little too early since the captors had broken out of the forested area and made a grab at him. The men surrounding the park, bewildered at the sight of the boy with a wound on his leg, went into immediate action detaining the simple minded captors. Sensing that the worst part had receded, he collapsed onto the ground, blacking out as he fell.

The next time he woke up, Tsuna found himself in bed with his mother sitting beside him. The look of worry that creased Nana's soft features were smoothened out in relief when he opened his eyes. She immediately hugged him, almost as if she didn't want to let him go. Tears of relief shed themselves from her eyes, nuzzling her son's soft hair. "Oh, Tsu-kun, you nearly made me worry! Promise you won't do that again, promise!"

As soon as the words hit him, he began to cry, the shock of the recent events hitting him hard, hugging his mother just as tightly. He hiccupped. "I-I-I w-w-w-was s-so s-sc-scared! M-Maman! T-They h-ha-had g-guns and s-shot th-them a-at m-me! I-I w-was s-scared!"

Nana gently stroked her beloved son's hair soothingly, rocking him slowly and whispering words of comfort. "It's alright, Tsu-kun, it's alright. Mama's here, and she won't let anything happen to you again, that's Mama's promise to you." A shadow crossed her face as she continued to soothe her son further.

He buried his head further and soon drifted off to sleep, leaving the brunette mother to ponder on her thoughts as she stroked her son's unruly hair. If she didn't change soon, something like this would happen again. Tsuna mumbled something about sleeping for a while longer, and she smiled as she placed him back in his bed. Deciding that it had been a long day for the both of them, she slept with him, allowing a soft smile to stretch across her face.

At the door, Iemitsu gazed at the two sleeping soundly on the bed in his headquarters, he deemed it unsafe for his wife and son to stay at the hotel, in case there was another attempt on hurting his family. He tucked them both in, his eyes lingering on his son's bandaged leg and scowled. Whoever decided it was funny to kidnap his son and shoot him in the leg would pay, and he promised them eternal pain. It was as if they were prodding him in a very sore spot, and he only had so much of the thing called patience. He had a title to live up to after all. Making sure that they were tucked in nicely, he swiftly turned on his heel to start his investigation on these people. Visconti would give him the interrogation results soon, and he would accept them gladly.

It was half way through the last week of their vacation, when Tsuna's Grandpa came over to visit them. With the life threatening situation behind him, he was very happy to see the kind old man again. Though not without caution, looking at things with a new light. It would be hard not to, when you had been kidnapped, fate just changed your point of view for the world into a different matter. Noticing this, Timoteo was saddened at the prospect that his grandson would not be able to completely revert back to the carefree child he once was. But spending time with him, helped ease his worries to see the boy play with the usual mirth he had before this all happened.

The end of the vacation soon descended upon them, Iemitsu with his wife and son by his side in the airport. He bid goodbye to Timoteo, and Tsuna had to reluctantly leave the old man's side, he had grown fond of the old man during his stay in Italy, often following him around and listening to his stories in awe. He waved as he was herded by his parents for the flight that was to depart. He soon found himself sitting in between his mother and father, on his way to Namimori, Japan.

Since the incident that had occurred on the supposed-to-be harmless vacation, he no longer saw things on the surface. Instead he found questions arising when he looked at something that was introduced in his life, things that sometimes scared him at how in depth he actually could think. He studied his hands as another question was raised; why were they after him?

Months later, Iemitsu returned back to his work after the break he was given by his boss, Nana was saddened with the prospect of not seeing him until who knows when he would show up, but smiled encouragingly as she let him head for his job. Tsuna, upon reaching his home, had begun to shrink inside himself. The times he would go outside to play grew fewer in number until it was merely for him to sit on the porch outside in his backyard to think. He had grown fond of books and with each passing month, Nana would see a much harder book in his hand than the previous. It worried her, this change was passed as trauma, but she couldn't help but worry if it would hinder his growth ability along with making friends. His number in class steadily grew higher as a result of his growing knowledge. The only thing that didn't change was the fact of him being referred to as Dame-Tsuna. His athletic ability was the same as ever, however average it seemed. He figured that it was about time to learn on how to dodge objects, so he considered the game of dodgeballs his training, and so far, there was a smidgen of improvement.

He soon began to take interest on many machineries, specifically computers and vending machines. Learning the way they were put together, generally. It was one of those days when he had taken to staring at the vending machine he was buying many drinks from, when he met Kurokawa, Hana. "Are you going to drink all those or what."

Tsuna looked down at the heaps of unopened cans of green tea on the pavement, looking up at the girl who spoke. "O-oh, t-these a-are for e-experiments. Y-you can h-have one i-if you w-want."

She stared at him as if he had grown another head, he didn't really care. It wasn't as if everyone was going to accept him anyway, shrugging he went back and scowled at the miss of the green tea he had bought. Searching his pocket, he brought out a coin and immediately bought another one, watching intently at how the magic of it bringing forth the green tea can forward, and into the opening below. Hana spoke up again, why she didn't just turn around and consider him an insane monkey, it was how she referred to everyone else in her eyes, was beyond him. "And what kind of experiment are you going through with. To see how many cans of green tea are in the vending machine?"

He glanced at her, taking out the two cans of green tea that lay inside. He tossed one to her and opened his. "No, nothing like it." He took a sip. "I like to content myself with how the machine brings forth a can like this to the individual who paid for it."

Hana blinked, stared down at the can in her hands then looked back at Tsuna. Her thoughts swirling around on where the previous stuttering boy went. Surely nobody replaced him in front of her; that would be bizarre. Gaining her composure she retorted. "And that would be you."

"Right." He answered grimly, not liking the retort. Drinking the rest of the green tea, he dumped the can in the trash that was there, searching his pockets; taking out a plastic bag he began to place all the cans into it.

"You're taking them all with you?" Hana questioned, raising a brow.

"You want me to leave it here for free take? Not gonna happen, I paid for all of these so I'm taking them. The end." He snorted.

"Since I had entered this life and lived through the hardships." He answered, testing out the weight of the cans in the bag. "This should hold on until I get home. Well, I will see you in class tomorrow, Kurokawa-san."

With a nod to the dark brunette girl, he left for home, leaving her to digest on the personality of the kid that is known as Dame-Tsuna in Namimori Elementary. She looked down at the can of green tea he had given her. "The cliché on looks is really evident in this world, isn't it?"

Shrugging she went off home, opening the can to drink out of it. There was more to Sawada Tsunayoshi than his Dame quality. For now she would watch him and evaluate.

-o-

Reaching the gates of his house, Tsuna sneezed. He sniffed. "Must be the cold weather…"

Chapters

Chris Rolfe:
BOY!!! I sure love what Aer-Ki Jyr did with this series. IMHO he captured the essence of what stargate is all about. Thru out the Stargate stories Aer-Ki wrote Stevens and John Shepard some of the main characters in his stories are pursued by a corrupt I.O.A.. All the while Stevens is changing in...

Barbara Ponder:
This book is aimed at teenagers, however the style and content caught my attention and it is a long time since I was a teenager. Intriguing and enlightening novel I hope there will be a sequel soon.

_JosephJacobson_:
I don't understand why this has such low ratings. I really enjoyed it!I think that the whole idea behind the plot had something very special and that was something that I really enjoyed. It was new, unique. I think that some of the writing was a little strange in places but overall it made sense ...

ernbelle:
When I first started this story I was a little unsettled by all of the information that appears in the prologue, and wasn't sure if I would continue. However, I am very glad I did. The plot was very well thought out and really interesting. There were not any page breaks or markers to acknowledge ...

Charlie_8472:
Recommended to me by a friend, I thought I'd give this a read. As a hobbyist blacksmith, the blurb certainly caught my attention. I found the sentence about them drinking, dancing and fighting a strange combination of activities, perhaps a reflection of the writer’s personality and humour. Howeve...

dd1226:
I love reading about other countries and I think this story about Cambodia after Polpot creates awareness of the tragedy that happened there and the actions of the U.N. to hold elections. The heroine of the story is easy to relate to, a modern, middleaged woman looking for an adventure, wanting t...

:
This is a very interesting book - mostly because the heroine is quite charming and well rounded, and has very real issues to manage in her life. Most of all,. I loved the view inside of the life of a South Asian girl/woman, the emotional self-talk, the customs and preferences, the expectations a...

Sammi Chan:
THIS WAS AMAZING!!! My favorite part of this story was the slow build of Merlin and Arthur's relationship. Their relationship was rlly nicely fleshed out and so good :) The way that you handled the magic reveal was super enjoyable. I rlly liked the switching POVs. Good!Mordred was cute and I'm rl...

CookieMonster911:
The story overall was an adventure that is appealing to any age. The way the characters develop adds a more human characteristic to the novel. The writing style itself is amazing because you can learn every character's thoughts and emotions. The awkward love triangle and jerk moments adds to the ...

Tiffany Thomson:
This story is not something I would normally pick up and read but I'm so glad I did, I wasn't able to put it down and my husband was yelling at me at 3am to put it down and go to bed (just waited for him to doze back off before picking it back up) I really hope Natalie brings out another book eit...

Guywithgunz:
Vanessa's saga has been an ongoing labor of love for the author and her core gp of fans.The saga as a whole is a must read for fans of Adventure / SciFi stories. The uploads here are in need of a final look by an editor for the spelling and grammatical errors that have crept in somehow into the f...